Donald Trump has declined an offer to deliver a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention, sources with knowledge of convention plans tell Newsmax.

But Newsmax has learned that the billionaire businessman has been asked to give a big “surprise” at the convention in Tampa, Fla., which begins on Aug. 27.

Trump has already made plans to be the area at that time. On Aug. 26, he will receive the Statesman of the Year award from the Republican Party of Sarasota County, Fla., and is planning to remain in the area for the convention’s opening festivities.

But Trump was offered a major speaking role during the convention, but has told the Romney campaign that he relishes the role he plays as an independent voice and believes his support of the Romney campaign could be served in other ways. The Romney camp is said to have already proposed to Trump how they would like him involved at the convention, but the nature of his involvement is being kept secret.

“We’ve got the truth on our side, and that’s Obama’s economic record. We’ve got the truth. All we have to do is be unafraid to say it.” -Rush

betty

Gretchen Carlson has been on vacation since last week……..

lbsles

“What the left cares about is what people think of Romney. And that’s what they’re attempting to do is create a caricature of Mitt Romney as a rich, insensitive guy who doesn’t care about what happens to anybody but himself.” -Rush

lbsles

“A new ad running here in South Florida depicts Allen West, an African-American Republican, in a boxing ring wearing red boxing gloves. So they’ve got Allen West beating up an old woman, stealing money from a middle class family, and whacking a young woman. It’s sort of like the Paul Ryan ad shoving a grandmother in a wheelchair over a cliff. This is all they’ve got, folks.” -Rush

Well, I guess since it’s an election year, Obama must continue to reward criminals in ever way he possible can. First he used an executive order to stop the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants. Now we learn that under Obama, the IRS is allowing “non-US citizens” to commit tax fraud and actually dismantled a group designed to stop this particular type of fraud.

We know, Obama loves his taxcheats

The IRS showed more interest in processing applications for a taxpayer identification number than in vetting those requests for fraud, according to a federal audit publicly released Wednesday.

The revenue service’s review of applications for Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) was lacking and there was no reason to believe the IRS uncovered as much fraud as it could, the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration found.

Russell George, the tax administration inspector general, said that those findings were “troubling.” ITINs are given to non-U.S. citizens, who are ineligible for a Social Security Number, for tax purposes, and can even be used by people not eligible to be in the United States.

The inspector general “found an environment which discourages employees from detecting fraudulent applications,” George said in a statement.

The IRS has said that it has already started to beef up its oversight of ITIN applications and will continue to make improvements.

Despite progress in Afghanistan over the past three years, a majority of Americans see the war in the country as unwinnable, and about two-thirds believe the U.S. should not be at war there. There are many reasons support for the war has declined sharply in the past years. Afghanistan has already surpassed Vietnam as the longest war in U.S. history, with nearly 2,000 deaths and thousands more wounded. It is no longer the “good war” and President Obama speaks about Afghanistan only about once a year.

But the main reason the American public has lost hope in the Afghan mission is due to the generally negative coverage of the conflict by the media. While major media outlets regularly report on the Taliban attacks, rights abuses, the drug trade, religious extremism, cultural malpractices, corruption, and other problems in Afghanistan, they seldom report on the progress made in the country, such as the success of the surge in southern provinces, progress in size and quality of Afghanistan’s security forces, and improvement in the country’s economy, health and education. Some alarmist journalists even sensationalize the problems to depict the situation to be much worse than reality.

A good example is last week’s news story by the NBC News’ foreign correspondent Ali Arouzi, entitled “Karzai: a ‘prisoner in his palace’?“ Almost every statement in this piece is factually inaccurate and misleading. Here is an excerpt:

Afghanistan seems as fragile as ever. There is a sense that with the U.S.-led NATO draw-down expected in 2014 the country could slip back into some of its darkest most socially-restrictive and violent days. Most Afghans you speak to in Kabul or outside of the capital fear that their country will once again be overrun by the Taliban or be engulfed by a civil war… Almost every province that immediately surrounds Kabul is firmly in the hands of the Taliban: Logar, Wardak, Parwan, Kapisa, Laghman, and about 70 percent of Nangarhar are Taliban controlled, according to locals, and they all border Kabul. I recently traveled to Charai Qamber, a small village just about five miles southeast of Kabul’s city limits, to speak with locals and find out what they think of the security situation… I spoke to a man named Babur… He spoke with contempt about America but seemed to be fond of Iran and Pakistan. Not a good sign for winning hearts and minds… We tried to travel to Parwan province – its borders are just about six miles outside of Kabul. But because it is controlled by the Taliban, we only reached the outskirts…

This gives the readers the incorrect impression that the Afghan capital is besieged by the Taliban and is on the verge of collapse – as one reader asks: “What did the troops DO FOR 10 YEARS?? If only a few miles from Kabul is controlled by Taliban — what did they all die for?”

In reality, none of the mentioned provinces are “firmly in the hands of the Taliban.” In the past three years, the insurgent groups have significantly been weakened in provinces around Kabul and the Taliban’s influence is limited to only a few remote districts. To say that 70% of Nangarhar, the third largest populated province in Afghanistan, is controlled by the Taliban is absurd. Major tribes in Nagarhar, such as Shinwari, Mohmand and Jabarkhel, are supportive of the government. Interestingly, the reporter claims his information comes from “locals”, but later admits he had not traveled outside Kabul for security reasons.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki acknowledged Thursday that the campaign was no longer pleading ignorance about the story of a man who has appeared in both a super PAC ad and a campaign ad.

“No one is denying he was in one of our campaign ads. He was on a conference call telling his story,” Psaki told reporters on Air Force One.

*It was also revealed that Bain Capital (even though Romney left Bain Years Earlier) had offered a very generous buyout package. Mean ole Bain, I mean no other diversment company does that, why should they?

A new study conducted by University of Notre Dame researchers found that a person’s mental and physical health improved when they stopped lying to others.

The “Science of Honesty” study – presented at the American Psychological Association’s 120th Annual Convention in Orlando, Fla. Last week – concluded that telling the truth matters to a person’s health.

I would expect these type of ads to continue,,because the people who viewed the ad while warching the Kardashian’s or Housewives of New jersey,,will likely never hear the truth and that proves very effective…According to the new polls…

Coffee Steve

@Paul G

I agree with most of that, but this kind of disgusting ad with the fallout about it being false sometimes backfires huge. Now the guy that was in the ad is telling networks about how Bain did indeed offer a very good buyout. which 95% of the time never happens.

The shame is, your right in saying it’s not going to stop, even before Romney won it outright, the Obama camp was saying things like “we must kill him” We have to destroy hime”

And the kicker was the DNC Memo that said to talk about anything except the economy, no matter what, do NOT mention the economy. And the even more shamful part? Those who keep falling for the junk.

Coffee Steve

@Paul G

PS:

By the way we ate at Applebees tonight, there were only 5 other couples there and 2 familes. It looked like a ghost town. Thats the first time there that it wasn’t at least 3/4 full. Resturants are hurting bigtime Paul.

d.d.

The negative ads by Obama’s PAC’s are working. Even Charles Krauthammer sees the damage done by this type of Chicago style sleaze advertising to Romney.

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Arrested illegals who were released charged with 16,226 subsequent crimes

President Barack Obama‘s decision not to deport some arrested illegal immigrants has enabled a crime wave — but no American or immigrant victims have been publicly identified, and GOP politicians have mostly remained mute.

Illegal aliens who have been released from custody between 2008 and mid-2011 have been charged with 16,226 subsequent crimes, including 19 murders, 142 sex crimes and thousands of drunk-driving offenses, drug-crimes and felonies, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

The criminals “were in the government’s custody, were identified as illegal immigrants and then let go because this administration has refused to request the resources to hold them and deport them,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

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Watchdog Group Raises Questions About Veracity of Holder Testimony on New Black Panther Party Scandal

Forcelli appeared in Congress in June 2011 to blast his supervisors and the U.S. attorney in Arizona for failing to oversee a law enforcement operation that lost track of as many as 2,000 guns along the Southwest border.

That testimony resulted in what his lawyer called “non stop witch hunts and character assassination” by prosecutors in Arizona and a few ATF officials. “The situation became intolerable,” Devine said. Ultimately, Forcelli moved to work in Washington headquarters.

A lawyer for Forcelli declined to disclose the terms of the settlement because it was the product of a confidential mediation process.

“We can’t reveal the details but Mr. Forcelli’s smile could not be broader,” lawyer Tom Devine, of the Government Accountability Project, told NPR in an interview. “This outcome was a 180 degree reversal by new management… This dispute is over